Interleaver sheet support means



1970 r E. F. FELSTEHAUSE N 3,488,

INTERLEAVER SHEET SUPPORT MEANS I Filed Dec. 21, 1967 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTOR- EUGENE F. FELSTEHAUSEN ATTORNEYS Jan. 1:3, 1970 I Filed Dec. 21, 1967 E. F. FELSTEHAUS'EN INTERLEAVER SHEET SUPPORT MEANS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. EUGENE E FELSTEH AUSEN ATTORNEYS United States Patent US. Cl. 53389 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The lead-ing end portion of a rolled web of separator material, such as waxed paper, is advanced into underlying relation to the patty discharge station of a meat patty molding machine and is severed to form a separate sheet while being lightly gripped by pivotal wire flippers resiliently urged against resilient rollers. The paper thus resting on the pivoted wire flippers intercepts a patty dropped thereon causing the flippers to pivot away from the path of the falling patty and paper en route to a stacking conveyor below.

-Cross reference to related applications The sheet feeding and cutting mechanism disclosed herein is claimed in the application of Felstehausen, Ser. No. 598,288, filed Dec. 1, 1966.

Background of the invention The general field of the invention is in food molding machines such as those which form uniformly shaped patties of ground meat, and specifically concerns apparatus for placing a separator sheet under each patty to separate the patties in an accumulated stack of patties.

Referring to prior art, the patent to Richards et al. 3,126,683 discloses an interleaving machine for ground meat patties wherein individual sheets are fed so as to span side members having grooves formed therein for receiving and supporting the sheets as the patties pick the sheets up in their fall towards a conveyor.

The concept of cutting sheets for patties from a roll of paper appears in Gause 3,177,524 wherein a mold slide containing the molded ground meat engages the free end of the paper roll and unreels the roll before the cut.

Summary of the invention In the present invention, sheets of paper for receiving the patties during their fall from pick heads of the molding machine to a stacking conveyor below are supported by laterally spaced wire flipper elements. These flipper elements are resiliently urged to their paper supporting position. It has been found that due to their low inertia construction, the flip-per elements are quickly moved away from the path of the falling sheet and patty assemblages as the latter continue on towards the stacking conveyor, thereby facilitating high speed operation of the machine without distortion of the interleaving sheets. Surprisingly enough, it has also been found that grooves for confining the sheets before fall of the patty and during cutting (assuming that the sheets are cut from a roll of material), and means for confining the edges of the sheets, are not required. It is preferred that while the sheets are supported and awaiting the fall of the patty, a light resilient engagement is maintained between the flippers, the sheets and a rubber roller at the side of the sheets, but these rollers are not essentially required for prevent-ing dislodgement or misalignment of the sheets during and after cutting from the roll or web in those machines in which the sheet delivery and cutting mechanism is employed. The attributes of a patty machine embodying the present invention are those of high speed operation without sheet distortion, tearing or misalignment.

3,488,918 Patented Jan. 13, 1970 The flipper and roller guide structure of the present invention makes it possible to use paper of various widths :without lateral adjustment of the machine guide structure. This is not true of designs which feed the paper through shallow grooved channel members.

Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of a major portion of a ground meat molding machine and interleaving apparatus embodying the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a perspective showing the paper feed, cutting and sheet supporting structure;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged perspective of the sheet supporting and dispensing apparatus of the present invention;

FIGURE 4 is an underside perspective of the apparatus shown in FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is :an enlarged sectional view of the dispensing apparatus showing its operation;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary enlarged section showing the flipper pivot mounts;

FIGURE 7 is a detail showing the anti-curl shoe mounting; and

FIGURE 8 is an enlarged section showing the flipper return spring structure.

Description of preferred embodiment FIGURE 1 shows major elements of a hamburger patty forming machine embodying the interleaving apparatus of the present invention. Briefly, the sequence of operation is as follows. Ground beef is placed in a hopper 14 and is formed into patties in a rotary turret mold (not visible) in a manner disclosed in detail and my copending application Ser. No. 602,062, filed Dec. 15, 1966 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Above the mold is a transfer turret 16, which operates in timed relation with the mold and carries pick heads 18 which also incorporate patty ejector grids. Thus, patties P are successively picked out of the mold and brought into position over the patty receiving end of a stackercounter conveyor 20.

The conveyor 20 is operated by a counter mechanism 22, such as that disclosed in my co-pending application No. 636,861, filed May 18, 1967, now Patent 3,424,294, the details of which are not critical to this invention. As the pick heads 18 succesively pass over the patty receiving end of the conveyor 20, the ejectors push the patties P from the heads so that they fall downwardly onto the conveyor. In accordance with the present invention, the patties P are interleaved with severed sheets S of paper (FIGS. 1 and 5), which sheets are picked up by the falling patties en route to the conveyor 20.

The interleaving apparatus associated with the improvement of the present invention includes a reel R of sheet material such as a roll of waxed paper 30, a combined web feed and web severing apparatus 32, and the improved web receiving, sheet supporting and dispensing apparatus 34 of the present invention.

The paper advancing and paper mechanism 32 is timed with the transfer turret 16 so as to intermittently feed the web 30 into the sheet supporting and dispensing mechanism 34, and then cut the web to form a discrete sheet S in the sheet supporting mechanism. After that, a patty is ejected from the pick head and falls through the sheet support structure 34, as described. The web feeding and cutting structure in the illustrated embodiment is like that in my aforesaid co-pending application, Ser. No. 598,288, filed Dec. 1, 1966 and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The counter mechanism 22 for the stacker conveyor 20 can be set to operate the conveyor 20 for single, or for one or more patties formed in a stack on he conveyor, with each patty picking up a sheet of paper i en route from the pick head to the stack of patties FIG. 5).

Before describing the improved sheet supporting strucure 34 of the present invention in detail, brief reference vill be made to the web feeding and cutting apparatus 0 associated therewith, it being understood that the deails of this apparatus are not critical to the present inention, and reference is made to the aforesaid application ier. No. 598,288 for further explanation of the details f a feeding and severing apparatus which can be incortorated in a machine embodying the present invention.

Referring to FIGURE 2, the web feed and cutting appaatus 32 is operated by a shaft 40 which is driven at four imes the angular velocity of the transfer turret 16 by a hain and sprocket mechanism (not shown) timed with he transfer turret. The shaft 40 of the present application orresponds in structure and function to the shaft 60 FIGURE 2) of my aforesaid pending application, Ser. Jo. 636,861, and as explained in the latter application, he shaft 60 (shaft 40 in this application) also drives the ounter mechanism 22 for operating the stacker conveyor 0.

The shaft 40, which rotates continually, operates an nterrupted sector plate 42 which intermittently drives a oller 44 and an associated chain drive 46 for the web eed rolls 48 and 50. The lower roll has vanes for crimpng the sheet, and the upper roll is rubber covered. This mechanism intermittently advances the web 30' by a disance equal to the length of one sheet S of material, for nterleaving between patties. Immediately upon compleion of the feeding stroke of the rolls and apparatus just lescribed, a travelling cutter in the form of a spring loaded lisc knife 52 is moved across the sheet, the cutter bearing .gainst a shear bar assembly 54.

The travelling cutter 52 is rotatably mounted on a cariage 56 slidable on guide rods 58. The carriage is adanced on its cutting stroke by a cam 60 on the shaft 40', he cam operating a cam follower 62 and linkage 64 conlected to the carriage 56. The knife is returned by a pring 68.

The operation of these parts is all synchronized with he transfer turret 16 (FIGURE 1) so that a length of )aper from the web 30 is fed onto the paper support mech- LHlSITl 34 of the present invention in time to receive a iatty falling from the pick head 18 disposed over the heet. The sheet of paper S will have been severed from he web 30 by the travelling cutter 52 before the patty .trikes the sheet. The timing of this apparatus is clearly lisclosed in my aforesaid application Ser. No. 598,288, ncorporated herein by reference.

The sheet supporting and dispensing structure 34 of the resent invention will now be described in connection with FIGURES 3-7. The mechanism 34 of the present inven- .ion makes it possible to feed flimsy material such as :heets of wax paper, etc. while essentially merely supportng the material against its own weight. Yet, this material :an be fed without canting or misalignment and the cut- ;ing action of the travelling cutter 52 operates so smoothly :hat it does not introduce misalignment. Furthermore, the iupport structure of the present invention permits patties :0 pick up severed sheets of paper en route towards the ;tacker conveyor (FIGURE 1) without causing creaslng, crinkling or distortion of the sheet S. These machines Jperate rapidly, and the features mentioned above are nade possible by the nature of the support structure of :he present invention, which is in the form of a pair of wire flippers 70 that are pivotally supported on arms 72 projecting from the feed rolls 48, 50.

The flippers 70 initially receive and support the web and continue to support the sheets S severed therefrom, until the patties pick up and carry away the sheet S. Each of the flippers 70 has a horizontal paper supporting portion 73 disposed within the confines of the web or sheet and extending parallel to the direction of feed of the web,

and perpendicular to the direction of fall of patties leaving the pick heads 18. The horizontal flipper portions 73 extend substantially the length of the longest sheet to be supported.

The flippers are pivotally supported on the arms 72 by means of laterally extending legs 74 which project from a pivot rod 76. Each pivot rod 76 is rotatably mounted at its ends in bearing blocks 78, 78a, as best seen in FIGURES 6 and 7, these bearing blocks being secured to the supporting arms 72. In order to reduce the inertia of the flipper assembly 70 and thus facilitate rapid operation of the flippers as a dispenser, the portions 73 and the legs 74 of the flippers are bent up from a length of wire. The flipper supporting arms 72 are secured to the feed mechanism by brackets 75.

In order to urge the sheet supporting portions 72 of the flippers into sheet receiving position, a light spring 82 connects between a crank arm portion 84 formed on each pivot rod 76 and the associated supporting arm 72.

Means are provided for restraining the flippers 70 in a sheet receiving position against the force of the springs 82, but without disturbing feeding of the web over the flipper portions 72 before the web is severed. This function is performed by combined guide and stop rollers which are formed of or covered with rubber, and are rotatably secured on stub shafts 92. The roller shafts 92 project from and are slidably mounted on horizontally disposed rods 94, these rods being secured at one end to outer mounting bars 96 screwed to the projecting arms 72, and at the other end to the pivot blocks 78a. In order to retain the roller shafts in their adjusted position, 0 rings 97 are seated in grooves in the roller shafts 92, which rings functionally engage the upper plate 98 of the support arms 72 (FIG. 5).

In order to preclude upward curling of the severed sheet, a bent finger 100 is adjustably mounted on the block 78a. As best seen in FIGURE 7, the finger 100 is slotted at 104 for receiving a clamp bolt 106 that adjustably mounts the finger on the bar 78a. The lower end of this finger lies in the upper plane of the web or sheet material on the flippers.

Operation The relationship of the pick up and discharge of patties from the transfer turret 16 (FIGURE 1) to the dispensing apparatus 34 and to the web feeding and severing apparatus 32 has ben referred to previously and will not be repeated. The salient features of the operation of thesheet supporting and dispensing apparatus 34 of the present invention are illustrated in the operational diagram of FIGURE 5. In the solid lines in FIGURE 5, a sheet of paper S is shown supported on the horizontal reaches 73 of the flipper 70, with the spring 82 lightly urging the sheet of paper S against the resilient roller 90', as previously described. A patty P is falling toward the sheet S, but has not reached it in this view.

As the patty P strikes the sheet 5, it picks the sheet up and carries the sheet with it, thus pivoting the flippers 70 against the upward force of the light springs 82. The force of the springs 82 and the inertia of the flippers 70 are both small so that no substantial bending, creasing or crinkling of the paper sheets S takes place during the period in the cycle wherein the sheets S are forcing the flippers 70 out of their path.

The exact extent to which the flippers 70 move away from the path of the sheets of paper S during the engagement between the sheets and the flippers is not critical or invariable. It is suflicient that the inertia of the flipper parts and the spring rate of the' springs 82 be small enough so that no substantial bending or distortion of the sheets S take place, as previously mentioned. At some time in the cycle, and as illustrated in dotted lines in FIGURE 5, the patty and the sheet S picked up thereby will have passed by the flippers 70. Due to their inertia, the flippers 70 may, as illustrated in FIGURE 5, have pivoted farther away from the position they had attained when last engaging the sheets. However, this action is not critical so long as the springs 82 exert suflicient force to return the flippers 70 into engagement with the rollers 90 for receiving the next length of web as it is fed by the feeding apparatus 32. Actually, there may be some rebounding action between the flippers 70 and the rollers 90 during this portion of the cycle, but the inertia of the parts and the rate of the springs 82 can be selected so that this rebound action substantially ceases in time for the flippers 70 and rollers 90 to cooperate in the feeding cycle and during the severing cycle, as previously described.

In the specification reference has been made to the web and hence the sheets S as being formed of wax paper, but it will be understood that the invention is not limited to this material. The supporting and dispensing structures 34 of the present invention will accommodate, support and dispense sheets that are surprisingly flimsy in a machine operating at a relatively high rate of speed. Laminated sheets, plastic sheets and the like can also be used instead of wax paper as is well known in the art.

Although the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention has been herein shown and described, it will be apparent that modification and variation may be made without departing from what is regarded to be the subject matter of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

Having completed a detailed description of the invention so that those skilled in the art could practice the same, I claim:

1. In a food molding and molded article interleaving machine that discharges successive molded articles along a predetermined path with the articles picking up a sheet of material en route, said machine comprising a web supply means for advancing a Web of said sheet material into said path, flipper means pivotally connected to said machine at each side of the web for supporting the free end portion of said web in said article path, means for yieldably urging said flipper means into Web supporting position, and web cutting means mounted on said machine for severing the free end portion of said web to form a sheet, movement of discharged articles along said path causing each article to engage said sheet and drag it through said flipper means while simultaneously pivoting said flipper means waya from the path of the falling article and the associated sheet.

2. The machine of claim 1, including resilient stop means superjacent each pivoted flipper means for engagement by the upper face of said web.

3. The machine of claim 2, wherein said resilient stop means comprises a rubber roller overlying said flipper means.

4. The machine of claim 2, wherein said flipper means is formed of wire.

5. In a food molding machine that discharges molded articles along a predetermined free-fall path with the articles picking up a sheet of material en route; the improvement comprising a pair of wire flipper members pivotally mounted on said machine at each side of the sheet for supporting a sheet of material in the path of each discharged article, means for yieldably urging said flipper means into sheet supporting position, movement of discharged articles along said path causing each article to engage said sheet and carry it through said wire flipper means while simultaneously pivoting said flipper means away from the path of the falling article and the associated sheet.

6. The machine of claim 5, with stop means above said flipper means for locating the latter in sheet supporting position.

7. The machine of claim 6, wherein said stop means is a roller.

8. The machine of claim 6, wherein said flipper means is formed of wire.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,347,176 10/1967 Hall 1732 3,388,529 6/1968 Holly 53122 X 3,440,796 4/1969 Harrison 53389 X THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner R. L. SPRUILL, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 1732; 53-122 

